DOVER — To increase pedestrian safety on Chestnut Street, a midblock crosswalk sign has been installed, with an additional sign to be put in place next week.

The signs, which were delivered to the city and assembled on Thursday, are yellow with solar powered blinking lights warning drivers of the crosswalk.

According to Community Services Director Doug Steele, crews brought the signs to Chestnut Street on Thursday, expecting to install one at the corner of Fourth Street and another at the corner of Third Street by the railroad track. However, only the Fourth Street sign could be installed.

“Crews brought the signs to the site and made the decision to adjust the one near the railroad track for visibility reasons and did a dig safe for the post relocation,” he said.

Dig safe is a program where all utilities are notified that the city needs to dig in a certain area, according to Steele.

“We are only installing a sign post, but there might be electrical conduits or gas,” Steele said. “This is a law we have to abide by where utilities have 72 hours to mark the area.”

Steele expects the second, and final, midblock crosswalk sign to be installed by the railroad track by late Monday morning.

“The sign is already assembled, it is just a matter of digging the hole,” he said. “We wanted to be able to put it in right the first time.”

The signs are being installed after 55 traffic incidents in this location were reported in the past ten years, including one that resulted in the death of Dover resident, Cathy Allen, in 2006.

In December, Jaclyn Cote, a city resident, spoke publicly at a City Council meeting about how she was hit by a vehicle while crossing the street by St. Mary’s Church, located at Chestnut and Third Streets, over the summer. She suffered a number of injuries and spent weeks in physical therapy. She began a petition to bring awareness to the crosswalk and educate others on the benefits of a pedestrian push button.

The petition, located at http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/dover-crosswalk now has 952 signatures, 752 signatures more than Cote’s goal. Although a midblock crosswalk sign is not a pedestrian push button, Joyal said a local engineering firm has contacted the city with interest in working at no cost to reconfigure and design Dover’s crosswalks, where the option of a pedestrian push button will be discussed.

In the mean time, city officials ordered these midblock crosswalk signs. They were ordered shortly after hearing Cote’s story. The two signs and all of the required hardware cost $3,437. In addition to the signs with the flashing lights, non-lit pedestrian signs have been attached to the back of the lit signs.

According to City Manager Michael Joyal, the goal of the signs is to slow vehicles down on the street and alert them to crossing pedestrians.

“As soon as the dig safe checks are complete, our crews will install the post and remaining sign/lights,” he wrote in a public statement.

The railroad track and the hill on Chestnut Street are two of the reasons why this crosswalk has become notoriously dangerous. According to Cathy Allen’s husband, Tom, speed is also an issue.

Allen’s son, Michael, is happy to hear the signs are being installed.

“I think that it is wonderful that not only has the public become more aware of the situation and how dangerous some of the crossings in our community can be, but that the City has taken the initiative to tackle the issue and hopefully come up with a solution to make all crosswalks in Dover safer to use,” he said.

Steele said he has not seen the signs at night, but that the lights are bright and noticeable.

“I’m just hopeful that it makes the area safer for people crossing the road,” he said.